I Am in Bed with You

Emma Barnes studied at the University of Canterbury and lives in Aro Valley, Wellington. Their poetry has been widely published for more than a decade in journals including Landfall, Turbine | Kapohau, Cordite and Best New Zealand Poems. They are currently co-editing with Chris Tse an anthology of LGBTQIA+ and takatapui writing from Aotearoa New Zealand for Auckland University Press.

'I Am in Bed with You signals the arrival of an extraordinary talent. Not only does Emma Barnes have the brainpower to interrogate notions of personal identity and interconnection incisively as we enter the 2020s but the sense of humour to see the comedy in our conundra and the emotional range to grasp the heartbreak in our yearnings, conflicts and confusions. Packed with quotable bons mots, quirky observations, agony aunt tips, enigmas and apophthegms, this is a book that rewards frequent re-reading.' -- Iain Sharp; 'From the first line of 'This is a creation myth', this work is stubbornly brave. Barnes stomps with bright boots over the territory of motherhood, womanhood, gender, and - unquestionably and timelessly - Sigourney Weaver. Everything is new and a little bit disgusting.' -- Sophie van Waardenberg